“It seems to be a great creative period for Gino Fioravanti, alias Aglaia, that with each new release continues to expand their vocabulary and to enriches its palette of sounds and colors. The immersive power of this work has reached the pure fusion with listening, a liquid quality.. osmotic, it is an act that rejoins the source of consciousness from which all true art springs. The electronic sounds have lost any artificial appearance and seem to be generated directly by the flow of blood, breath, meditation and dreams…
The unfathomable depth does not fail to amaze me, his regenerating power and ability to harmonize different levels , has qualities that go beyond, the music ranges with atmosphere and interior spaces that open up, and follow each other from one track to another, respecting the invisible stages of imaginary multidimensional paths in their incessant and relentless pursuit. “Primeval nebula” and “Intangible opacity” will find a broad consensus among both fans of Aglaia, that whole scene of electronic and the environment music, which apparently has achieved full expressive vitality here, in a solution of continuity with transcendence. (label press)” -aliodie.bandcamp.com

“Imagine yourself a delicate fog or mist hovering above a primordial, somewhat sparse and intensely calm landscape. That would be this album in a nutshell. Superb!”
-Brian Bourassa@bandcamp.com

“This is music at the threshold of still point, with slow moving waves and textures that seem to be modulated by local atmospheric conditions. Organic and minimal, yet rich and full, with plenty of interior space to explore. When you experience this music outside the boundaries of your dwelling the playback apparatus disappears and the sounds seem to emanate from the surrounding environment. This is nocturnal ambient music at its best.”
-Sean Washburn@bancamp.com

“While ‘Florealia Nocturna’ is music for the night, ‘Ephemeral Blue’ is music for late evening stillness. Deep, delicate and rich textures slowly modulate and weave a lovely tapestry of dreamy sonics. All edges are smooth and notes bloom with a welcome softness. Nothing here is fighting for space. Each element fits perfectly within the sound field. Highly recommended.”
-Sean Wasburn@bandcamp.com

“Intangible Opacity’ dares to visit the place where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and the infinity of space begins, following the physical and chemical processes that occur in the ionosphere. The sound is based on warm but at the same time somehow distanced synthetic textures, and classical ‘el-music.’ Gino Fioravanti, alias Aglaia, that with each new release continues to expand their vocabulary and to enriches its palette of sounds and colors. The immersive power of this work has reached the pure fusion with listening, a liquid quality… osmotic, it is an act that rejoins the source of consciousness from which all true art springs. The electronic sound have lost any artificial appearance and seem to be generated directly by the flow of blood, breath, meditation and dreams… The unfathomable depth of these two new albums does not fail to amaze me, his regenerating power and ability to harmonize different levels , has qualities that go beyond, the music ranges with atmosphere and interior spaces that open up, and follow each other from one track to another, respecting the invisible stages of imaginary multidimensional paths in their incessant and relentless pursuit.”
-aliodie.bandcamp.com

LISTEN to the title track from this album. (Please Note: The album cover pic in the video is incorrect.)

“Angelus is an album that celebrates the solemnity, is to see the abstract with eyes looking up. The eternal is contained in a sound reverberates and echoes without gaps. Aglaia explores sometimes transcendence, at times introspection. Without boundaries defined flows in search of deep resonances, he meets them; there is surrender to the masses of stray sounds timeless, direct with a slow move towards peace.”
-aliodie.bandcamp.com

“The pieces move like rippling waves , like natural elements , such as puddles that reflect the sky , are vapors , breezes , forgotten impressions of the past. In ‘leaves and thunderstorms’ Aglaia uses sounds like watercolors , delicate aquatic tones that change made in a calm light. The album flows light and transparent , but has enough shadows and shades of gray , if poetry , descriptions of filtered nature.”
-aliodie.bandcamp.com

“A masterpiece of mystical wonder painted with the medium of music. I’ve seen him do this often in his music….but never better than this.” -Rsfx-amb@bandcamp.com

“There is only one Alio Die and the beautifully constructed listens he creates for us are such a special part of the experience of planet Earth. So expressive and emotive and spontaneously deep, we’re blessed to have his music accompany our lives and reflections. thank you.” -duffeagen@bandcamp.com

“Such exquisite complexity in this drone world by Stefano Muso (ALIO DIE). But, then again, they always are. ” -brianbourassa@bandcamp.com

“Just as the title suggests this is perfectly blissful ambience for wherever you may be. Never boring or overly repetetive – a masterful balance of beautiful and peaceful tones.” – Rsfx-amb@bandcamp.com

“It is always a pleasure to experience new works by ALIO DIE, mindfully absorbing the multitude of minute phrases that make up, in the end, an intricate tapestry of textural wonder. Seamlessly bliss is no exception to the rule and exemplifies this magical process that only one such as ALIO DIE can create.” -brinbourassa@bandcamp.com”

“‘Sitar Meditations’ is a collection of sound experiments made by sitar and zither sessions. The acoustic recordings were edited and looped into imaginary soundscapes that bring the listener at the border of stasis, in a dreams-like state. Majestic and delicate, abstract and resonant on a background of silence, the acoustic sounds melt by the electronic effects are transformed into different vast and open spaces. A mysterious and dark album for time travelers!” -aliodie@bandcamp.com

“Elusive metaphor is the second collaboration between ambient master Alio Die and scapes creator Parallel Worlds. in this new album, the drones and loops by Alio Die are combined with the modular soundscapes of Parallel Worlds, resulting in out of this world aural environments that merge elements of a dreamy and calm nature with mechanic and even industrial musical paths. Zither and field recordings are combined with soundscapes and sonic fragments that defy boundaries, giving the listener a unique mental journey of unspoken beauty.” -aliodie.com

“Otter Songs is the culmination of the process that began in 2008 by Lingua Fungi and Alio Die. The idea for the collaboration was born from the initial recordings by Jaakko Padatsu utilizing diverse self made instruments and natural objects including driftwood, snail shells and otter skull ocarinas. The archaic and arctic drones were later complemented with subtle recordings by Stefano Musso with zither, sitar and other acoustic instruments. The collaboration was sealed with final recordings in Italian spring 2011 by Jaakko Padatsu and Stefano Musso. From Terra Ultima to Mediterranean, the album brings together the tones of nocturnal cicadae and spring break-up of ice in Bothnian Bay. Sometimes driven with arctic atavism, sometimes with delicate warm melodies, Otter Songs aims to transcend physical distance by deconstructing and rebuilding the two worlds into boundless celebration of Terra Mater.” -aliodie@bandcamp.com

“Rêverie is the third collaboration between Antonio Testa and Stefano Musso after ten years from their last cd together “Prayer for the Forest”, with this new potion the duo explore different slow-motion athmospheres, playing a wide range of acoustic instruments,and distilling healing sounds,that naturally relate with music-therapy. An album for the soul and the love of being in its entirety. Airy and suspended, “Rêverie” is inductive music for light-hearted moods over any siege of thought.” -aliodie@bandcamp.com

“Honeysuckle is the new solo album by Alio Die. Trance & drones, acoustic and electronic sound-effects melt together in five tracks that are characterized with a touch of grace that expand consciousness in new and unforeseen dimensions. After a few seconds the music absorbs the listener under induction into the internal space that vibrates and resonates… A lovely, sensory experience that is close to being discovered, and one that will spread its fragrance. Like the hummingbird that sucks the honeysuckle’s nectar standing in equilibrium through the air.” -aliodie.com

“ENIGMA is the third collaborative CD by Opium and Alio Die. Here the duo present mystifying a series of eight “imaginary landscapes” where beats are totally absent and musical structure is loose and meandering. The atmospheres are frequently disquieting, haunting and full of subtle perplexity. Acoustic and organic sounds are embedded deep within hazy drone textures, the artists employing drones and loops, zither, flutes bells and field recordings with Opium focusing on programming and wave editings. It must be said thought at the sounds produced by the items listed are not necessarily those you might expect, these guys are not into dainty melodies and sweet tunes.” -aliodie.bandcamp.com

“After the concert in Prague last year in may, we followed the proposal of friends to play some acoustic instruments spontaneously on top of the hill, in Troja, into a circle of stones installations. Zithers, Tubes, Bells, Rattle and Shells, Flutes..the sessions were inspired from the special place and the spring’s vibes in the wind. The recordings that are a blueprint of the spirit of that day, were edited in studio by Alio Die, then Mathias Grassow added his electronic drones to expand the point of view and enrich the flow and layers of the compositions. The result in eight tracks, show how mostly static and repetitive balanced sounds can interact with our perception during the listening time, bringing us into an active and intimate quiet mood, softly absorbing us into some dream-like and time-opening experiences.” -Hic Sunt Leones

“In this fourth collaborative album by Alio Die and Zeit, A Circular Quest combines electronics with acoustic drones and loops, infusing to the music the usual natural feeling with an eastern touch. Deep and immersive music, intense and layered electronic meditations, ecstatic spirals and Pacific vibes.” -aliodie.com

“The first solo CD by Zeit is a true revelation… After two albums in collaboration with Alio Die having a more acoustic quality, in ‘Waves fron the sky’ Tommaso Cimò undertakes electronic orchestrations with inserts of guitars and bass perfectly integrated. You can find attachments with the best mystic and cosmic music of the seventies translated with a subtle sensibility into new territories of ambient music with a very fine touch.”

“Cosmic like Three Organic Experiences, esoteric like Password for Entheogenic Experience, Vayu Rouah performs a kind of synthesis of the researches by Alio Die and Aglaia. Vayu Rouah is the primordial wind that joins cabala and sonorous alchemies, an inexorable flux with extended electro-acoustic solutions, by a wide range of frequencies. A very long and slow gestation of about eight years have absorbed different musical moods and have stratified itself through time… sound after sound… toward extreme possibilities. -aliodie.com

“Nights in Nubiland is a trip into fantastic territories. Nubiland is is the place of the Clouds, where the landscapes are attended between midnight and the dawn… before the sunrise. This new album start a new chapter for Aglaia. Pure electronics, new sounds, but above all we feel a new compositive spirit, that connect the therapeutic music of the beginning into new spontaneous forms… imaginary gestures, that without losing the sensibility and the mystery of the first compositions, expand the language into the personal expression of an art form.” -aliodie.com

Here’s one of the latest from Numina, the hottest new name on the ambient scene right now. It’s a collaboration with Caul, whose own work is even spookier and darker than Numina’s. Disquieting and spacious, with a definite soundtrack-like quality.

After years of signaling, filtering, phasing, delaying, decaying, compressing, compromising, changing, arranging, changing, rearranging, adding, removing, accepting, denying, deleting, rendering, considering, forgetting, remembering, reconsidering, choosing and compiling, this is it. However, an empty duration as a naked prefix of random time is all this is, until you make my time yours and relate the position of the prefix to the duration of you.

All tracks by Danny Kreutzfeldt during 2002-2006. Guidance and good intensions provided sporadically by my friends with a special mentioning of Dennis Knopper.

Fresh from select U.S. performances in 2002, this purely live double-CD documents the current evolution of Steve’s iconoclastic live experience after 24 years of electronic concerts worldwide. During the first half of this year, Steve was on the road constantly, playing in one city, then setting up the live system in The Timeroom to reflect on that week’s performance, developing new sounds in response. The music evolved through this process, offering a refreshing alternative to the “tour-’til-you-drop” approach for the composer and audience alike.
Elements from CORE, STREAMS & CURRENTS, EARLY MAN and INNERZONE are present, but the spontaneous moments within these two CD’s, along with many new pieces and spaces created just for these events, create an atmosphere than can only come from stepping outside the safety of the studio. From the intimate to the immediate, ALL IS NOW captures Roach’s deepest, most intense and searching sound journeys undertaken with an entire audience onboard. These “mobile Timeroom” events were recorded at Sedona Arizona, Oakland and San Francisco California, Portland Oregon, and the SFMOMA / Yoko Ono event in June 2002.

“All is Now, Steve Roach’s newest double-CD release on Timeroom Editions, represents Roach’s 24 years of nearly nonstop dedication to presenting live electronic music worldwide. This is a collection of selected live recordings from his 2002 tour of the U.S. including Sedona, Arizona, San Francisco, Oakland, and Portland, Oregon. CD One is a blend of four live concerts including a portion from the premiere party for Yoko Ono’s “Yes” exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. CD Two is a complete set from a recent Sedona, Arizona concert, just as it occurred, with a full-house audience.

All is Now is a dialogue of in-the-moment sonic excursions woven from elements of recent studio albums CORE, STREAMS & CURRENTS, EARLY MAN and INNERZONE, as well as a varied collection of new sounds and pieces created for these live concerts. The recordings are taken from both theater-size venues and non-traditional performance spaces, dramatically capturing the current state of Roach’s living sonic vision. That vision taps into the roots of his mandala-like trance pieces, signature atmospherics and neo-tribal groovescapes, weaving it all into one continuous sonorous stream.

The All is Now excursions are an organic maelstrom of elemental earth sounds didgeridoos, shamanic percussion, clay flutes and analog and digital synthesizers sculpted by various synthetic treatments and evolving, real-time effects processing. These recordings also feature Steve’s live debut on electric-guitar-triggered atmospherics on “The Infinite Heart”, recorded in San Francisco. Roach’s artistry as a sound sculptor is an inspiration, given the current status quo, paint-by-numbers mentality which relies on samples and generic synth presets.

As a sonic iconoclast, Roach’s live music sets are challenging certainly not for the faint of ear. Taking Roach’s music into your reality tunnel is to traverse the core of an experimental electric storm. Through exotic textures, subterranean rhythms and expansive vistas All is Now reaches critical mass at many points throughout the two disks.

For Roach, this releases is a significant step forward in the live experience as a living art form a bridging of the studio and stage. Not a premeditated occurrence, the now energy of these concerts is what brings audience members from great distances. Roach prepares each concert by creating his palette through extensive hours of studio time leading up to the events, preparing possibilities, working on pieces and sounds. Yet when the time comes, the all-is-now attitude is what shapes the journey. Roach is able to connect to his audience through the sound, uninhibited by preconceptions. Roach clearly trusts his “in-the-moment” creative juju. He graciously accepts the here-and-now, soul-rattling concert experience as a natural occurrence.

With All is Now, Roach invites us to join him on an exhilarating expedition to the edge and beyond. Would we expect anything less?” –Dwight Loop, Earwaves

Notes From the Artist:
“Following a 14 month break from recording, I rebuilt my studio, dug out the synths and got to work. ‘The Geometry of Shadows’ marks another stylistic-shift from previous releases and is almost entirely synth-based. Initially inspired by the concept of faster-than-light communications over galactic distances, the original material for the album was recorded under the title of ‘Ansible’ in late 2009. In 2011 this material was reworked, re-recorded, and recycled over 9 months until no trace of the original material was actually used. This new version of ‘Ansible’, while retaining the spirit and atmosphere of the original recording, shifted the focus to the interplay of light and darkness, both physically, metaphorically, and spiritually, necessitating a change in title. The original idea of superluminal communications however, still threads through the aural landscape, as echoes from the past and future over astronomical distances that we simply cannot comprehend. These ideas: light and shadow, past and future, distance and time, informed the creative process of this album.” -brokenharbour.ca

The music of GENESIS consists of creation-inspired electronic ambiences that are woven from elements of new synthesis forms as well as vintage analog instrumentation. The resulting music will please anyone who enjoys electronic music that is timeless and yet current, bold and yet subtle, melodic while remaining ambient. Genesis takes place inside the listener’s mind and spirit.

IXOHOXI (Dan Russo) and Numina (Jesse Sola) have collaborated twice before, on a couple of related projects, Starfarer’s Tales volumes 1 and 2 (both of which are available here).

Recently, Dan Russo passed away unexpectedly, just as he and Numina were finishing work on this third collaboration, so we bring you this last project by the duo. Prior to Dan’s death, we here at Hypnos had discussed with him the idea of releasing a couple of his albums on Hypnos Secret Sounds, but alas the projects did not come to be before it was too late. It’s our hope that now that IXOHOXI is gone, more listeners will become aware of this interesting and worthwhile artist.

Numina says:
“The third, and ultimately final collaboration between Numina & IXOHOXI titled “Megaliths & Monoliths” is now available for release. This is, by all accounts, Dan Russo’s final musical work to be released and the last known that he had worked on. Rest in Peace, Dan.”

The album opens with “Nomo”, which jumps right in to a stuttering rhythm and heavy punchy bass. Very modern and edgy stuff, yet altogether accessible. “Pranka” slows things down but remains firmly rooted in synthetic electronics, with soft shuffling percussion and more bass. “Empak” is a brief abstract piece with little clicks and wind-like synths whooshing by. “Glacion” has an appropriately chilly feel, a la Biosphere with sparse drones and effects. “Run-Ra” stomps steadily along with a nice bit of crunchiness, for lack of a better word. “Lono” moves semi-spastically along, with quirky pulses carrying a wide variety of sound samples along for the enjoyable ride. It is equal parts Spyra, Pete Namlook, and similar sources of intelligent electronica. Each track is an experiment, a blank canvas to which a sonic abstract painting is applied. “Nkuh” saves the best for last, moving at a moderate clip in a cool groove, abruptly bringing Vebra to its conclusion. -databloem.com

“The initial tracks for “The Space Between” were begun in early 2011 and work continued on the four tracks until early in 2013. I usually work on several works simultaneously, each one informing and propelling the others along. As “Spaces” began to develop, I felt that I wanted to include the assistance of another artist for this release, and “A Thousand Little Wounds,” seemed just right for the richly textured bass work of Peter James. Peter very kindly agreed to help and supplied me with a lovely addition to that track which deepens the feeling greatly. Instruments used in these songs include: keyboards, voice, gongs, bells, bass, field recordings and flutes. I experienced many losses and many life changes during the making of this album. In a way, creating this music, helped me make it through an extremely difficult time and enabled me to process some very challenging emotions. The title was inspired by a spark of intuition that I recieved: although loved ones, situations and events seem to pass into history and other kinds of existence, the apparent space between us, between us and our lost loved ones, between us and those events, does not actually exist. Past events, loved ones, even the resources we need from all our pasts and futures are there waiting for us…in still, quiet moments. – Steve Brand”